Personal and Personnel

I'm approaching the end of a very eventful academic year at my university north of Beijing. I sometimes suspect that I've learned more in a year of teaching English in China than my students have in a year of trying to learn it. I especially wanted to share some of my insights as they pertain to the business community that at least some of my students hope to enter upon graduation. I'm speaking especially to you Western business people who will be hiring and/or doing business with Chinese colleagues.

Hiring:

1. Hire women. My female students all maintain, and the male students agree, that highly qualified women are passed over by Chinese employers in favor of less qualified men for the same position. The justification for this is that the women will soon become mothers and unable to devote the attention to work that their male counterpart can. I disagree. My female students are much harder working, in general, than my male students. They come to class much better prepared, they pay more attention and are much more focused. I cannot believe that this will change overnight with parenthood, particularly as many of these young women are seriously considering the option of not having children. So look closely at your female applicants. They may look demure but they're tough as nails, they know what they want and they know they're going to have to work to get it.

2. Do not insist on experience. China is changing so rapidly it's like looking at a country through time-lapse photography - - you watch developments that should be taking months happen right before your eyes. There is a big difference between my post-graduate students and my undergraduate students and even a difference between my Freshman Foreign Trade majors and my Sophomore Foreign Trade students. My freshman class sounds like someone came in and turned up the volume. They talk louder, think more creatively, question more astutely. If they keep it up they're going to hit the job market like a cyclone. They won't keep it up, of course. The educational system, as it presently exists, beats them down. But I could almost guarantee you that these guys won't be out for the count. If you hire them straight out of school you have a chance of making excellent employees out of them and benefiting yourself in the process. If you insist on experience, you may get employees with the kind of experience that will make it harder, not easier, for them to understand and adapt to the way you want to do business. So consider taking a very close look at those applicants straight out of "college".

3. Don't be deceived by appearances. I've talked with Chinese teachers in various departments of my university and most of them concur with what I have found to be true in my own experience. The poorer student may know more about hard work and effort than the more affluent one. Some of my better students are middle class in appearance but some are obviously doing the best they can with very little material help. So when interviewing that potential employee, don't necessarily go for the one with the professional haircut and up-to-the-minute western clothing straight off the rack. He may look good the first day and prove apathetic by the second month. Whereas the applicant in hand-me-down skirt and blouse, as clean as possible and perfectly pressed, may be the one for you. And don't worry, she'll spend her enthusiastically-earned pay check on suitable clothing for the office, just as soon as she's sent a bit back home to the family that helped her get where she is today.

Robert and Gail in front of the Teaching Building of the university

And now my advice to the Western employer once he has his Chinese staff in place. This also applies to those of you who arrive in China to find the Chinese staff already in place:

The Chinese employee may need help understanding what you expect of him or her as it could be very different, even diametrically opposed, to what has been expected in the past. He has grown up with the adage "Honesty doesn't pay" and may need convincing to the contrary. He has also learned to separate words from meaning. I would suggest training programs in which you spell out very clearly what you want and then reward it when it is forthcoming. It's like any other application of positive re-enforcement, you won't have to do it forever, because eventually the desired behavior will be its own reward. But while your employee is discovering that, consider giving a reward of some kind (and I'm talking cash) for those attributes and attitudes you're looking for. Examples might be accurate self-assessment and willingness to learn. Oddly enough, you may even have to reward cooperative behavior at first. My Chinese friends tell me that despite the cooperative tendencies I see in the classroom, the Chinese employee may have a hard time cooperating in the work place and want to shine individually at the expense of the group effort. Reward him financially for team work and he'll get the message soon enough.

Finally, do take the time and trouble to get to know and appreciate your Chinese employees and co-workers. Personal interest is a great motivator. And there are no people in the world more kind-hearted when given the opportunity, or more able.

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